Читать книгу Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 - Various - Страница 75

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On May 18th we had several inches of snow accompanied by a fierce northwest wind, and orchards without any shelter suffered seriously, and both apples and plums in such orchards were scarce and of a rather inferior quality. A few orchards had a fair crop, while a couple of others with a natural windbreak had a fairly good crop, but on an average it was the lightest apple and plum crop we have had for some time.

Mr. Beiersdorf and Mr. Swichtenberg report a good crop of Wealthy and Peter. Their orchards are close to a lake and are well protected on the north and west by a natural grove.

Of the twenty-four report blanks sent out, eleven were returned properly filled in, and they all report conditions about as above outlined.

Cherries and grapes suffered even more from the cold than the apples, and that crop was very light. My Homer cherry trees look healthy and are growing fine, but the past two years had not enough fruit to supply the birds.

Raspberries and strawberries were a good crop and of exceptional fine quality, but the currants and gooseberries were a total failure in my garden as well as elsewhere, according to all reports received.

There were not many fruit trees planted in this district the past year. For instance, at this station the deliveries last spring consisted principally of bundles containing one-half dozen or a dozen trees each, and the total number delivered in that way did not exceed 200 trees and, according to all information, the planting throughout this district was very light.

I know of only one new orchard started with 700 four and five year old trees. About 500 are Wealthys and the balance Patten Greenings. The trees made a good start but were somewhat neglected during the summer, the field being planted to corn and some to barley, and all was handled rather rough.

There was very little blight in this district the past year. I noticed just a little on two or three Transcendents, and Mr. Jos. Boll, who has about 1,500 bearing trees, reports no blight at all.

I did no spraying this year, did not consider it worth while, as there was no fruit, and most others felt the same way. Other years though a lot of spraying is done, and the more progressive ones spray two and three times.

There is plenty of moisture in the soil, and the trees are going into winter quarters in good shape, therefore prospects for apple and plum crop the coming season are excellent.